VA pledges better data security

Still smarting from the fallout from Laptopgate, officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs are pledging to do whatever it takes to safeguard the integrity of the personnel and medical information stored on agency databases. Officials say the VA has an opportunity to set "new standards" for information security in the wake of the theft of a laptop computer containing information on 24 million veterans. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said the government is planning to spend $160.5 million to provide credit counseling and other services to veterans and members of the armed services who may have had data compromised.